#40 esoteric ~ exhort Flashcards
esoteric
/ˌɛsəˈtɛrɪk/
adj. hard to understand; understood by only a select few; peculiar
- Chicken wrestling and underwater yodeling were just two of Earl’s esoteric hobbies.
- The author’s books were so esoteric that even his mother didn’t buy any of them.
espouse
/ɪˈspaʊz/
v. to support; to advocate
- The Mormons used to espouse bigamy, or marriage to more than one woman.
- Alex espoused so many causes that he sometimes had trouble remembering which side he was on.
- The candidate for governor espoused a program in which all taxes would be abolished and all the state’s revenues would be supplied by income from bingo and horse racing.
ethereal
/ɪˈθɪəriəl/
adj. heavenly, as light and insubstantial as a gas or ether
- The ethereal music we heard turned out to be not angels plucking on their harps but the wind blowing through the slats of the metal awning.
- The ethereal mist on the hillside was delicate and beautiful.
euphemism
/ˈyufəˌmɪzəm/
n. a pleasant or inoffensive expression used in place of an unpleasant or offensive one
- Aunt Angie, who couldn’t bring herself to say the word death, said that Uncle George had taken the big bus uptown. “Taking the big bus uptown” was her euphemism for dying.
- The sex-education instructor wasn’t very effective. She was so embarrassed by the subject that she could only bring herself to speak euphemistically about it.
evanescent
/ˌɛvəˈnɛsənt/
adj. fleeting; vanishing; happening for only the briefest period
- Meteors are evanescent: They last so briefly that it is hard to tell whether one has actually appeared.
exacerbate
/ɪgˈzæsərˌbeɪt, ɛkˈsæs-/
v. to make worse
- Dipping Austin in lye exacerbated his skin condition.
- The widow’s grief was exacerbated by the minister’s momentary inability to remember her dead husband’s name.
- The fender-bender was exacerbated when two more cars plowed into the back of Margaret’s car.
exacting
/ɪgˈzæktɪŋ/
adj. extremely demanding; difficult; requiring great skill or care
- The exacting math teacher subtracted points if you didn’t show every step of your work.
- The surgeon’s exacting task was to reconnect the patient’s severed eyelid.
exalt
/ɪgˈzɔlt/
v. to raise high; to glorify
- The manager decided to exalt the lowly batboy by asking him to throw the first pitch in the opening game of the World Series.
The adjective is used frequently. Being queen of England is an exalted occupation.
- Diamante felt exalted when he woke up to discover that his great-uncle had left him $100 million.
- Cleaning out a septic tank is not an exalted task.
exasperate
/ ɪgˈzæspəˌreɪt/
v. to annoy thoroughly; to make very angry to try the patience of
- The child’s insistence on hopping backward on one foot exasperated his mother, who was in a hurry.
- The algebra class’s refusal to answer any questions was extremely exasperating to the substitute teacher.
exemplify
/ɪgˈzɛmpləˌfaɪ/
v. to illustrate by example; to serve s a good example
- Fred participated in every class discussion and typed all of his papers. His teacher thought Fred exemplified the model student; Fred’s classmates thought he was sycophantic.
exemplar
/ɪgˈzɛmplər, -plɑr/
n. an ideal model; a paradigm
exemplary
/ɪgˈzɛmpləri, ˈɛgzəmˌplɛri/
adj. outstanding; worthy of imitation
exhaustive
/ɪgˈzɔstɪv/
adj. thorough; rigorous; complete; painstaking
- Before you use a parachute, you should examine it exhaustively for defects. Once you jump, your decision is irrevocable.
exhort
/ɪgˈzɔrt/
v. to urge strongly; to give a serious warning to
- The coach used his bullhorn to exhort us to try harder.
- The fearful forest ranger exhorted us not to go into the cave, but we did so anyway and became lost in the center of the earth.
The adjective is hortatory.
